How to sell Zhao Yunlan

[sakana17]

My good friend thevetia asked me to show her Guardian, I very happily complied, we've watched through episode 13 (♥ 13! ♥) and she mentioned that she... doesn't like Zhao Yunlan much. ;__; But she wants to keep watching, so there's hope.

1.) Shen Wei is a quietly dazzling package of awesome, and I totally understand her devoting more attention and thoughts to Shen Wei because, yes.

2.) On first watch I didn't immediately love Zhao Yunlan, either, but he quickly interested me, and by this point (ep 13) I was sold. Now I love him so much I don't actually remember how I got here. :)

Through episode 13, what are Zhao Yunlan's best qualities? How would you describe his good points to someone who didn't notice them? I made an attempt, but... was not rational about it.

I don't need her to love Zhao Yunlan, of course (if she wants to watch the rest just for Shen Wei, I ain't gonna say no), but...!

Advice? Suggestions?

Comments

[naye]

He's so good with Shen Wei? He knows Shen Wei is keeping secrets and lets him. He waits so long for Shen Wei to tell him, and pushes only when said secrets have gotten people killed. And when he realizes there are even more secrets... He waits until Shen Wei is ready to talk. Literally - he tells Da Qing (who is worried and suspicious) that he knows Shen Wei will share when he's ready.

Also - he acts really brash and familiar, but he cares so deeply about his people? If you look at the beginning of the Hanga Arc, the minute he sees Wang Zheng's distress he's ready to pack up and go wherever she needs to be. And when everyone including Zhu Hong is snickering about the sex doll (which you'd think would be something Zhao Yunlan finds hilarious) he's really angry because of how it upsets Wang Zheng.

There's so many moments when you see that he's deeply emphatic and that a lot of the bluster is a mask. I mean, the reason Shen Wei passes out drinking is that Zhao Yunlan has been pressed into social drinking and is doing it with gusto for the good of their relationship with the local bigwigs, but he's also looking really drained by it.

Honestly, I've always loved Zhao Yunlan and I can't imagine not doing so, but the kindness at his core is one of the things that really get to me.

(Another example: really early on Butler Wu is dying and Zhao Yunlan is right there ready to give of his own life force through the Dial! When it doesn't work he begs the Black-Cloaked Envoy to save the guy. He CARES.)

[asya_ana]

<3 <3

[sakana17]

Thank you!! These are all great points! I want to have them handy when we watch episode 14, because it occurred to me that what I love in that episode may bounce off of her big-time if she's bugged by Zhao Yunlan. A lot is happening in the show at any given moment and it's easy to forget certain things, and if her attention has been Shen Wei-focused she may not have even picked up on stuff like the Butler Wu moment. (Which is huge and *so* early!)

I love this comment! ♥ Zhao Yunlan!

[naye]

I love Zhao Yunlan an inordinate amount, and I am so glad this was helpful to you - and if it might be helpful to your friends, so much the better! ♥

But yes, stuff like Butler Wu - and with Zhang Rounan (the Wang Yike case) where Shen Wei didn't realize how badly upset his own colleague was, and Zhao Yunlan took one look at her and went "Yeah, so I think she's been badly traumatized recently?" and he was right and Shen Wei's "What don't be ridiculous!" was wrong.

ANYWAY I hope you have a fun time watching Guardian together!

[sakana17]

Yes, it was very helpful! After talking about some of the earlier Zhao Yunlan moments, it was clear she'd missed several of them because of paying more attention to the subtitles or other stuff happening, which definitely can happen with this show, especially seeing it for the first time. So she didn't remember what Zhao Yunlan was doing/saying in the Butler Wu scene, stuff like that. We watched episodes 14 and 15, and she's curious about the flashbacks Zhao Yunlan's been getting, which is a very hopeful sign. :)

Oh, my, yes, I love Zhao Yunlan's Perception Competence in that scene with Teacher Zhang. ♥ him.

Yes, we are having fun watching it together! And I'm noticing even more things that I didn't pick up on earlier, which I love.